mark crompton

There is also the extensive network of GRETA colleges. Very clunky website but they usually have classes in Langue pour L'Etrangers.

When you look at the listings in French immobilier many contain codes inc T1 T2 F4. What is this about? Some kind of classification? Thanks

I'm still looking for a business - youngest has a year of school to go and I could if necessary sell up and rent until then, or at the latest, move Summer 2011, so naturally every estate agency from Bayonne to Calais is emailing me their gites. The income is generally pretty low, but much higher when there is camping with facilities too, I guess cos it is so much more work, full time when in full season, and much more full on, more demanding of language skills etc. I guess as it is France there are more burning bureaucratic hoops to jump through too, that I haven't even heard of. Any experiences anyone would like to share? What are the pluses and minuses? thanks

true - hadn't factored in the cost of waterproofing the Kefs ta

I hope someone can answer this question in an approximate way, without repeating the title. I'm looking at a B&B with a gite in Haute Normandie and it has a couple barns in good condition. If I was thinking about converting each to gites, both two bed on two floors, both about 100m2, what would be the extremely rough cost, and the very rough timescale, hopefully something more specific than, say, between a hard-boiled egg  and peat turning into coal. Hopefully

Still true though that a potential buyer might be reading. I speak as someone who visited Poutou C in Feb, is coming to Normandy on Friday and Dordogne in May. Feel free to email me details. bon chance [email protected]

As an ESOL teacher, I find my students get more use out of a learners' dictionary. I figured there might be similar - and there are. Oxford learners' dictionary gives english/french french/english plus some grammar and good examples of the words in use.

Interesting and comprehensive post but there's one thing missing for anyone taking a first look at the possibility of opening a gite business. Many people talk about business being up or down, some seem to have 10 week businesses, others 30-40. Many complain about stressful Saturdays, but not much about what happens Sunday to Friday. But the most important question, and clearly I'm not asking you to open up your books, but for say, a nice 2 gite business, modern and pretty, with a proper pool, after exes, somewhere where there's lots of both business and competition - say charente or dordogne, what's a reasonable expectation of income? thanks in anticipation